By now most of us have read and seen media reports regarding the troubling crash statistics related to distracted driving influenced by smartphone use. What is it about this simple activity that causes a driver’s performance capabilities to diminish? For safety professionals, it’s important to understand the physiology of how taking calls and texting dramatically reduces the amount of information drivers can process to safely operate a vehicle.

The rear-end collision is the most common type of automobile crash. Almost 40% of the six million accidents that happen each year are rear-end collisions. Furthermore, almost 87% of the crashes were caused from drivers not paying adequate attention to the road.

My management team just finished the arduous task of producing next year’s business plan and budget. Time, effort, forward thinking, compromises and multiple revisions all played a role in accomplishing this yearly forecast. Each year, several key projects (think $$$s here) are identified, which we believe will bring value to our clients and the company as well. Of course, from my vantage point, one of the responsibilities I have is to challenge management on what the Return on Investment (ROI) will be for these new projects. From here we prioritize and decide which ones to pursue and implement in the coming year.

Big data is really here. The amount of details we can amass related to drivers’ activities behind-the-wheel is impressive and loaded with powerful, useful intelligence. However, organizations that have access to this may still face challenges achieving maximum results because a data-driven focus can have an unintentional consequence—To see the driver as a problem to be controlled rather than a resource to be leveraged.